Chapter 18: Remembrance of Peace

Seven years ago…

Opening my eyes, I look around my room. The walls are made of a bright red fabric that’s held up by four metal beams in each corner.

“Is it nighttime already?” I say to myself, disturbed by the noise going on outside my tent.

Pulling away the covers of my sleeping bag, my bare hands and feet rub against the rug laid out in the middle of my room. It’s neither small nor spacious, but it’s the kind of setup we’d rush to put together before dawn. Even as I’m standing up, I can hear the crunching of grass beneath my feet, which isn’t a surprise since it’s normal for us to set up camp in the forest. What’s weird is all the noise going on outside. Wasn’t this supposed to be a quiet forest?

When pushing aside the curtain separating the other section of the tent, I realize no one is here. Looking at the clock, it’s a little bit before midnight. It’s normal for me to be woken up by Mother or Father around this time to help with breaking down camp, but it doesn’t seem like that’ll be happening tonight.

Walking over to their section of the tent, I realize that they are not only gone, but that their sleeping bags have been left out too. They’ve scolded me for not doing that before, so it’s unfair that they didn’t do it themselves.

“Hmph, ‘Cleaning your room is what big boys and girls do.’ Adults are such liars!” I murmur to myself, realizing I’ve been tricked this entire time.

“Aaaah!!”

“Huh, was that someone screaming? It’s coming from outside.” I say to myself, running towards the entrance of the tent.

The sounds of metal clanging and spells jingling grow even louder. What’s going on?

Pushing aside the curtain of the main entrance, the smell of smoke hits me right away. As I’m coughing, I realize that no one else is here, yet the screaming and shouting persists outside our camp. Considering the worst possibility, I start running down the hill. The sounds progressively get louder, along with the smell of smoke as I race barefoot across the glade. An orangish glow looming above the trees in the distance.

“Mother! Father!” I yell with my arm covering my nose and mouth while running towards the fire.

The moment I step foot into a clearing, a man is flung across the field. His body tumbles to the ground lifeless with blood all over his face. When looking in the direction he was thrown from, I see one of the adults from camp standing there bearing his claws. He notices me with a drop of his jaw, right before turning to defend himself against a merman rushing at him with a spear. He stabs him in the stomach with his claws and shakes him to the ground, but not without getting injured himself.

“Sintobi, what are you doing here?” The warrior asks while gripping the wound on his side.

“Huh…Oh,um…” I stutter, seeing his bright red eyes. I knew this might have been another Hunt, but why is everything so hectic?

“Don’t worry, It’s me, Julien. Your mom and dad are fine.” he says while placing his hand on my shoulder and taking his device out of his pocket. “Sir, it’s me, Julien. I’ve taken care of the Mermen heading towards the camp, and I’ve found Sintobi…No he doesn’t seem to be hurt…Understood, we’re on our way.”

Julien puts away his device and turns to look at me. Judging from the determined look in his eyes, that must have been Father.

“Astaroth, I mean, your dad, said to bring you to him. Are you feeling okay?” Julien asks with a look of concern.

I nod. “I’m fine.”

“Good!” He nods before grabbing my hand.

As we run deeper into the forest, I start to see the bodies of dead mermen lying in the blood soaked grass. Blood still seeping from their wounds, indicating that their time of death was just a few moments ago. I’ve only heard the cries of a Hunt from afar, so I never imagined this.

Hunched over one of the bodies is a kid crying for his mother. From the paleness of her skin and the blood pouring from her neck, no matter how much he shakes her to get up, she isn’t going too.

The boy turns towards us with a look of disgust. “You, how dare you run away, you coward!”

His face is bright red with snot and tears streaming down his face from his sorrows. But it doesn’t stop him from getting up to run towards us. Raising his hand, a ball of water forms in his palm with a blue glow. Though before he can get a chance to shoot it at us, a knife pierces his forehead. It dissipates in an instant as he falls to the ground, lifeless.

“I apologize Sintobi. It’s due to my negligence that the boy wasn’t taken care of along with his mother. I hope that was enough to redeem myself.” Julien says, as if begging me for forgiveness. Still astonished, I nod. He killed him without hesitation, leaving not even a second for him to react. Is this what happens during a Hunt?

After a few moments of running through the burning forest, Julien and I arrive near a cliff's edge. Out of the corner of my eye, I see some of the warriors from our camp lying down on blankets. Many of them are alive, but those with more serious injuries leave our medics scrambling to treat them. It’s normal to see many of us injured after a Hunt, but there seems to be a lot more than usual.

Even so, many of the warriors are still readying up for battle. Some with bandages wrapped around their injuries, all with a look of determination.

“Ah, Sintobi! We’re glad you're safe!” Shouts one of the adult warriors, as the others lower their heads.

“Sintobi!” Yells a familiar voice as I’m ambushed with a firm hug. From the subtle floral scent, I knew it was Mother.

“I’m so glad you’re okay, did you get hurt anywhere?” She asks while checking my hands and face. When I nod, she brings me in to hug me tighter.

“I assure you ma’am, I found him unharmed. I’d also like to confirm that all of the mermen heading towards the camp have been dealt with.” Julien says kneeling on one knee.

Mother pulls away from our hug and looks at Julien. “I got your confirmation from Astaroth, good work. Now I need you to head towards the south, they seem to be changing their approach so I need you to scout out the area.”

“Roger!”

“And you four, I need you to run as backup for him. And remember, this is for our survival.”

“Yes ma’am!” the other warriors shout as they follow behind Julien into the forest.

Mother looks down at me. “Is something wrong?”

“Is this what happens during a Hunt?” I ask her.

She gives me a sad look. “Yes honey, this is what a Hunt looks like.”

“But all these creatures…”

She rubs my head. “It’s what we need to do to survive, to see another night.”

I want to say more, but I stop. The sad look in her eyes means I shouldn’t say anymore, but it still bothers me. That mother and son Julien killed. They were a family just like us.

Mother stands up and takes my hand. “Come, let's go see your father.”

As we’re walking towards the cliff side's edge, I see Father looking out into the distance. Seeing as he’s our clan's leader, many of the warriors are scrambling to get his attention. Even so, Father keeps this composed look on his face, as if all of this is normal.

He turns to us. “I see Julien returned safely from his assignment with the pride of our clan in tow.”

“He was careful to make sure he wasn’t hurt.” Mother says while rubbing the back of my head.

“He’s a good man, but he’s a bit too eager.” Father says before turning to me. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m fine, just a bit surprised.” I respond with a nod.

“I’m sorry, you and the other children shouldn’t have to see this. It’s my fault things ended up like this, but that doesn't mean we can't solve it.”

“Don’t beat yourself up over it dear, we had no idea they would be scouting during the day.” Mother says while rubbing Father's shoulder. “It’s the only way they would’ve known we’d be on the Hunt tonight.”

“We’re lucky they didn’t choose to drag us out of our tents during the day, but it seems they prepared for us instead. Thankfully, we were able to strike at nightfall.”

“Why?” I ask, the words escaping my mouth just as quick as the thought came to mind.

Father smiles. “Because it’s what we need to do to survive. How else would you get blood along with your meals?”

“So the blood we drink is-”

“Yup! It’s from those we’ve hunted-”

“Astaroth!” Mother yells, causing Father to take pause before averting his gaze. It’s not often she uses his real name, but when she does, it means he’s in trouble.

“There you are Sintobi!” yells two voices. When I turn around I see Mikel and Theresa running towards me.

“Huh, Why are you guys here?” I ask them as they’re running up to me.

“The same reason you’re here, there’s a Hunt going on can’t you tell!?” Theresa says in a panic, while shaking me by the shoulders.

“We were looking for you, but we couldn’t find you anywhere. Where were you?” Mikel asks, sounding a bit more calm.

“Well I heard a bunch of noise in my tent, so it sort of just woke me up…” I explain with a shrug of my shoulders.

“You mean to tell me you just woke up and walked all the way over?” Theresa asks, furrowing her brow.

“Man you’re seriously too laid back sometimes, you know that?” Mikel says with a chuckle.

“It’s funny.” Father says while walking up to the three of us. “You do realize that you would have been far safer in that tent than you are now, right?”

I get a sense that he’s scolding me, but it’s not fair. So what if my tent hides my presence!

“You and Mother weren’t home so I thought something bad happened.” I say.

Mother sighs. “It’s unfortunate, but your intuition was correct.”

Father nods. “I understand, but we agreed that you would stay in the tent if you ever thought something was wrong.

“Well…you said that ‘Cleaning your room is what big boys and girls do’, but you two left your room in a mess!” I shout.

Theresa snickers while Mikel sighs, but I don't care if they’re making fun of me. All of this is just to much-

“Sir!” Yells a strong voice. When we turn towards them, we realize it’s Julien. Theresa gasps at the sight of his injuries, of which there are plenty. With the blood leaking from the cuts on his forehead, to the limp in his walk, it’s clear that something went wrong.

Father runs to grab hold of him before he could hit the ground. “Julien, what on earth happened to you!?”

“The mermen…we confirmed that they’re moving toward the south, but…there were land sharks with them…” Julien struggles to say between coughing up blood.

“The land sharks!?” Father shouts while lowering Julien to the ground. “I thought we evaded them three days ago!”

“Where are the others?” Mother rushes over to ask him.

“They… they came out of nowhere… we barely had a chance to react.” Julien struggles to say while choking on his blood.

Mother lifts up his shirt, revealing the gaping wound on his side as it continues to bleed out. Tracing her finger along what looks to be bite marks, she looks at Father. He shakes his head.

“Do you know where they’re heading?” Father asks.

“They were heading towards the back of a camp…we don’t know what their goal is but…” Julien mumbles, his voice trailing off. His hand falls limp, as the light in his eyes dim. Checking his pulse, Mother shakes her head.

Father kneels to close Julien's eyes with his two fingers. Glancing at Mikel and Theresa, I notice their downcast expressions. Why does it have to be this way?

Father stands up to face Mother. “Becca, he mentioned they were heading towards the back of our camp. Coordinate our men in that direction.”

“Okay!” Mother says while taking out her device.

Mikels eyes widen. “Theresa, isn’t that where Eena and your parents are?”

It takes her only a second to realize what he’s talking about, before gasping into a panic. Before Mikel and I could say anything else, she starts running in the direction Julien came from.

“Theresa, wait!” Mikel yells as we run after her.

As we’re entering the forest, my chest starts to feel tight. He did mention that the land sharks attacked them in the forest, so what if they’re nearby. What would we do if we ran into them? They already killed three of the adults, but somehow let Julien get away. Compared to the four of them, we won’t stand a chance.

“Theresa, wait, slow down! You have to calm down!” I yell while shuffling past leaves and branches.

“Yeah, we should let the adults handle this!” Mikel shouts.

“We can’t just sit around and wait for the adults to do something!” Theresa shouts back, quickening her pace. Considering she’s the fastest runner between the three of us, keeping up with her is much harder than it should be.

“You saw what happened! If they can't handle them, what makes you think you can do better?!” Mikel pleads with her.

Mikel is right, What does she hope to achieve by running towards them? This is the first night we’re experiencing a Hunt and everything is going wrong. Even Mother and Father are having a hard time handling the situation, and they’re the leaders of our clan.

Still tripping over branches, we notice an orangish glow before us. We can hear the screams in the distance as plumes of smoke enter the forest from the clearing.

“Mom! Dad! Eena!” Theresa shouts as she vaults over the fallen tree in front of her.

Following her into the clearing, we’re welcomed with a terrifying sight. The mermen are attacking the adults with spears while setting fire to our tents, leaving them with little to defend themselves. The screams of our warriors are drowned out amidst the cries of the defenseless, as they’re pulled from their tents to fight for their lives. All while the heat of the crackling flames rage on in the background.

“Theresa, what are you doing here? It isn’t safe here, go to the captain!” Shouts one of our warriors, as his claws clash with the spear of a mermen.

The moment he says this, I start to feel shaking beneath my feet. The three of us look at each other in confusion as the shaking gets stronger. Is it an earthquake? Looking around, I notice something sticking out of the ground heading towards us. It’s shape is unlike anything I’ve seen and it seems to be coming towards me, but I can’t move. My knees are frozen stiff.

As we’re watching it move towards us, it changes its course towards the warrior. In the same instance, an impulse to warn him comes to mind, but the words won’t escape my mouth. And a second later, piles of grass and dirt shoot up into the air from beneath the warriors feet. I cover my face from the incoming debris, but the moment I move my hand, I notice the silhouette of the creature standing before us.

As the dust settles, The warrior is looking towards us in shock.

“Please…Hurry-” he struggles to say before coughing up a large amount of blood. As the dust dissipates, we notice the gaping hole in his chest, along with more of the creature that caused it. Its long muscular arm flexes through the warrior's chest, as it then flings his now lifeless body to the floor like a wet rag.

“It’s just like how my mama used to say, why take out the small fish when there’s a big one right in front of you. Especially when you're hungry!” The creature says before turning towards the three of us. “Don’t you agree, children?”

The rest of its body is just as broad and robust, but what stands out the most is that he has the head of a shark. The gills on his neck expand and contract as he bares his jagged teeth, but what’s more apparent is that he’s doing all of this away from water. He must be one of the land sharks Julien was talking about, which means there’s more of them.

“Can’t speak huh? Figures, I don’t expect you three to fully understand what’s going on, since your kids and all.” He says, looking down at us with a grin. It’s hard to tell what he’s thinking just from looking into his dark beady eyes, but judging by his rough way of speaking, I can hear his disdain.

My entire body starts trembling. “M-my…My parents…”

“What was that?” He asks.

“My parents are gonna stop you all!” I shout with all the courage I could muster up.

His eyes widened at my outburst, before bursting into laughter.

“I see, so you're Astaroth’s kid? If I didnt pity you so much, I would kill you on the spot, but it's just like I said. I’ve had my share of big fish for one night, so I’ll let you three runts off easy. Don’t disappoint me!”

With a crack of his knuckles, The land shark hops back into his hole. The sight of his fin lurking beneath the ground into the dark forest brings a sigh of relief, but only for a moment. A distinct cry comes from a distance, one that I’ve heard plenty of times before.

“Eena!” Theresa shouts before running towards the sound of her cries.

Seeing Mikel run after her, my legs start to feel stiff. I can feel them shaking along with the rest of my body. I’m scared. It’s not like I’m the only one, since I can tell Mikel and Theresa are too, but they’ve somehow found the courage to move. Is something wrong with me?

Taking a deep breath, I muster up the strength in my legs to follow behind them. The sounds and screams from all the fighting, creates just the right amount of chaos to propel me forward. And even if I’m running head first into danger, my intention isn’t to add to the chaos, but to stop it.

Spotting Theresa’s tent in the distance, I notice that both her parents are fighting off the mermen as well. They seem to be doing pretty well against them, but it’s for sure a struggle.

Marco kills one of the men with his claws, right as another merman runs up behind him. But Jess sees this and defends her husband. It’s impressive to see them work so well together, but with so many of the merman coming at them, it’s going to be hard for them to keep up.

“Mommy, daddy, help me!” Yells Eena, as one of the mermen comes out of their tent holding her in his arms.

“Dammit, let her go!” Marco yells, as he attempts to run towards the merman, but is instead intercepted by another one from the side. And even with Jess rushing her wayt, she’s struck by a water ball to the face, knocking her to the ground.

“Eena!” Theresa shouts, her voice trembling from the sight of what’s happening in front of her.

“Big sis!” Eena shouts, kicking and squirming in the merman’s arms.

“Don’t you dare come any closer, you demons!” the merman yells, pulling out a knife against her neck.

Theresa stops in her tracks, In fear of Eena getting hurt. There’s no telling what he might do, but that isn’t gonna stop Mikel and I.

“Let her go!” I scream at the top of my lungs, still running towards the mermen.

One of the other mermen surrounding us jumps in and kicks Mikel away, sending him rolling to the ground. I dodge the kick of the merman running at me and continue running past him towards the one holding Eena.

“I said, stay away!” He yells, as he presses the knife against her neck, this time drawing blood.

Noticing her blood trailing down the blade of his knife, my legs want to stop. But if I do that, then what? Eena will be killed anyway. She’s no different from the rest of us they’ve hurt, it’s just that they know this will hurt us more. And after all that I’ve seen and heard today, it’s no wonder they want to do this to us.

It’s what we need to do to survive, to see another night…How else would you get blood along with your meals…

Even if Mother and Father are right, isn’t there another way of doing it? If this is the sort of thing we do, even if it’s necessary, then doesn’t that mean we’re the bad guys? No, that can’t be right. Everyone, including Mother and Father, are so nice and kind to each other. Bad guys aren’t nice…right?

Theresa’s screams start to sound distant, as if she were calling out to her sister from the void. That’s when everything starts to get blurry. The thought of Eena getting hurt sends a shock to my very core, yet the thought of me not doing something about it, is even scarier. I won’t be able to live with myself, I wouldn’t know how to look Theresa in the eyes anymore, because it’s just like Father said. I am the pride of the Temory clan.

Even if they’re all bigger than me, even if they are all adults, I have to stop them. No, I have to stop all of them, but the only way I could do that is if I were…

King For A Day…

The thought of having the ability to command anyone, it crosses my mind like a dream. I can feel a smile stretch across my face, right as a rush of pain shoots through my head. The image of the merman standing before me with Eena in his arms disappears into a blur, along with everything else around me. I can't even hear anymore. It’s like I’m trapped inside my own head.

…Damn you demon…

I open my eyes, everything is quiet now. It’s still nighttime, but there’s a stillness in the air. Feeling a warmth beneath my feet, I notice a shallow red liquid seeping between my toes. What is all this?

As I’m wading through the thick liquid beneath my bare feet, another rush of pain shoots through my head. It doesn’t hurt as much as before, yet I still grasp the side of my head out of reflex. Where did everyone go?

With my feet carrying me aimlessly, I step onto something strange with my bare feet. It doesn’t feel like any rock or branch I’m used to. But looking down, I realize that nothing I could have imagined could have prepared me for what it really is.

Beneath my foot is the foot of a merman. His body lays there lifeless, while his head bleeds out like a faucet from his eyes to his ears and places one wouldn’t expect so much blood to spill from.

My whole body starts trembling at the realization that the red liquid I've been wading through is just a puddle of blood. I feel someone grab my shoulder, rekindling my senses as I turn around.

“S-sin...Sintobi, are you okay?” Father asks with a look of concern, the sound of his voice becoming clearer as he mouths the words.

As I nod, I hear someone else crying off to the side. Turning towards them, I realize it’s Eena sobbing in the arms of Theresa along with their parents. Looking around more, I notice that not only has the fighting stopped, but all of the lifeless bodies.

“Do not worry Sintobi.” Father says while rubbing my shoulder.

One of the warriors runs up to him from the forest. “Sir, all the mermen they-”

“Okay men, consider what just happened, a blessing!” Mother shouts before giving me a one off glance. “Gather any supplies from their settlement! We need to get a move on before word of what happened here gets out.”

Father looks at the warrior and gives him a nod. The warrior glances at me and gives him a nod, prompting them to join the rest. How can they be so calm about all of this? What even happened, anyway? I feel like I’m missing something important.

When I turn towards the forest, I notice Mikel looking at me. A feeling of relief washes over me at the realization that he’s safe, but the look he’s giving me is that of fear. The first thing that comes to mind is, what could he be scared of? Maybe it’s all of these bodies? Sure it’s frightening, but they can’t hurt him anymore.

I wish I knew what happened to the mermen, since one thing is certain…

At least the fighting stopped.